Scream! Shout! Say Nothing are not your standard rock band. They are a very non-conformist band with a unique sound. This makes them stick out like a sore thumb compared to most bands around in England at the moment. Obviously this is a good thing, and makes their mixture of hardcore, rock and prog a very refreshing listen. There is an undeniable power and passion when they play live, which while somewhat fearsome to behold up close, is also mesmerising and audiences find it hard to take their eyes off the band, purely because it is
different.
Of course, just being different isn't always enough to cut in the music world, fortunately for the St. Albans quintet they are definitely not lacking in musical ability. They write prog-like structured 6 minute songs that can hold your attention for the duration because of the large number of different ideas that are thrown into each song. Although this
does make it interesting to listen to, it may also alienate some listeners as it can be hard to appreciate the music at a first listen. However, each listen pulls you further into their atmospheric hardcore as it entrances you.
The Heavy Heart of the Nine-to-Fiver starts the mini-album/EP out with a long intro encorporating gentle guitar chords with rolling toms on the drums. It fades out and then explodes, unleashing a vocal assault on the eardrums.The lyrics are at first incomprehensible, but soon vocalist Ben Davies starts to make sense as you hear him shout his way through the first few
proper lines. The phrasing on these makes them less accessible to the casual listener, but this is one of the great things about Scream! Shout! Say Nothing; the beautiful unhingedness of their music makes it hard not to pay attention especially during the gang-vocals of
"Dreams of something more cut much deeper-When they are dreamt from the gutter" at the end of this song.
Second track
Clouds and Hurricanes is written in much the same vein as the previous track, with technical melodies along with some solid drumming that work together to create an ambient sound. At times,
Eastern-European sounding guitars, and once again anthemic, memorable refrains are employed to make another amazing song, but maybe not as good as the other two songs here. The track fades into a long outro made up of: pianos; contrasting female voices, good guitar-work and once again a short repeated (over and over) phrase
"One day you will regret putting out these fires and building these bridges..." The repetition of phrases like this help to create a hypnotic atmosphere throughout the CD, and give a unifying sense to their music.
Leave These Battles For The Angels closes the album, and follows a similar (lack of) structure to the other tracks. The unpredictable phrasings of the vocals give a very welcome un-mainstream appeal to the song in the 'verse' ie. where the music is more sparse and the vocals are less shouty. Another long intro finishes the mini-album with more gang vocals, memorable repeatable phrases and soaring melodies.
Overall this is a very good first effort from Scream! Shout! Say Nothing. It is one that shows that the band are all very talented and definitely know how to go about writing prog-tastic hardcore without ever being cliche, and always being entertaining.
